A Basic Question of Fairness

GetEQUAL DC is having a demonstration next week on April 18th, the day taxes are due all across America, to highlight the fact that under the Defense of Marriage Act and many other laws, lesbians and gays are discriminated against in this country.  The slogan for the action is "No Taxation With Discrimination!"  (Catchy, isn't it?  I wrote it...tee hee.)  More information about the action is available here:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123495701057786

Anyway, they wanted quotes to include in the press release about the action.  I thought I'd share what I wrote.  Let me know what you think.

"There is a basic question of fairness being debated in America today.  The ability to have our families recognized and protected by our government is something that has nothing to do with religion, and yet old biases and prejudices are being stirred up in the name of God to deny us basic equality under civil law.  Lesbian and gay American citizens pay the same taxes as everyone else, and yet we are denied many of the legal protections that heterosexuals take for granted from birth.  It's time for the government to stop discriminating and tearing families apart, based on the hatred of a vocal minority of people who seek to impose their religious views on others with the force of civil law."

Punching A Hole In an Anti-Marriage-Equality Argument

I think Elton John or David Geffen or Calvin Klein or Tim Gill or some rich homo should offer a ten million dollar reward to any heterosexual married couple who can prove that their marriage has been harmed by a gay couple's marriage.  I think they should hold a huge press conference and do it in as loud and splashy a way as they can.  I think they should take out full-page ads in newspapers all over the country announcing the reward.

And maybe then we can put to rest, once and for all, the beyond-ridiculous argument that allowing gays and lesbians equality under civil law has anything to do with anyone else's marriage.  What do you think?

April Fool's Done Right

Now this is an example of an Aril Fool's Day joke done the right way! It's funny, it's harmless, and everyone has a good laugh, including the object of the joke.

Enjoy!

Thai Surprise

You have to watch the clip until at least 1:40 to understand why it made me smile. :-)

I love how the crowd -- and, from the looks on their faces, I'm guessing the judges as well -- are so accepting and positive.  I'm not sure an American audience would always be as cool.


Thanks to Asgeir Ingvarsson for the tip.

Assholes With No Sense of Humor Ruin Everything For Everyone Always, Part II

I've been fagbashed by complete strangers three times out in public in New York City.  Two of those times, I could have been killed:  once, when I was beaten with an aluminum baseball bat, and once, when I was attacked by people with large knives in their hands.

So when I see video of someone being attacked in public in NYC, I cringe.  It brings back memories that I don't particularly enjoy, memories involving police cars and an emergency room and spending hours going through photographs of criminals, trying to find the people who beat me with a baseball bat, people who later that same summer killed another gay man with a baseball bat -- probably the same bat and the same fagbashers -- in the exact same location where they attacked me.  Not something I enjoy reliving.

I don't know if they still do it this way, but several years back when I first became aware of Improv Everywhere, there was a procedure to apply to be accepted as an Agent.  You had to submit an essay, it was evaluated, and they decided to admit you as an Agent or not.  I loved Improv Everywhere and what they were doing, and I thought I'd be good at it, so I applied.

I was accepted.

Flash forward to last night, when I saw a video of a fellow Improv Everywhere Agent being physically assaulted on a New York City subway train.  All the memories came flashing back.  My emotions kicked into high gear.  I just watched a video within 24 hours before this one of a gay man being bashed on the streets of the West Village -- a video released by the police, who were asking people to help identify the attackers in the video.  So when I saw the one that Improv Everywhere posted, of an Agent being assaulted and asking people to help the police identify the attackers, I swung into action IMMEDIATELY.

I wrote about it here on my blog, I posted the video, and I posted it to Facebook.  I reprinted the request for help, and linked to the Improv Everywhere blog so people could assist in the hunt for the attackers.

I was STILL so upset when I got up this morning, that I posted it AGAIN, and assured my 700+ Facebook friends that it was NOT an April Fool's joke, because OF COURSE, who would ever consider pretending to physically beat someone on a subway train IN ANY WAY FUNNY?  Not the people I respect and admire over at Improv Everywhere -- of course they would never try to make light of violence that way.  Their stunts are funny, and light-hearted, and make people smile.

Of course, you know where this is going.  They recently announced it was an April Fool's Day "joke."  If I could put the word "joke" in about 50 quotation marks, I would.

Therefore, I would like to apologize to all of the readers of this blog, and my over 700 Facebook friends, for upsetting you, concerning you, and leading you on a wild goose chase.  I especially apologize to my friends who went to the trouble of reposting the post from this blog to THEIR friends on Facebook, which I saw happened. 

Sadly, in this case, the assholes with no sense of humor who ruin everything for everyone always, turned out to be Improv Everywhere, not the people who "attacked" them.

Below, if you're interested, is the message I posted on the Improv Everywhere website and Facebook page.  I think it about sums up my feelings on this matter.  I hope you had a better April 1st than did I.

-- lm

I reposted your video to my blog, and shared it here on Facebook, TWICE, because I was so upset that someone would attack one of you guys, and would have done anything to help you catch them. April Fool's jokes are supposed to be funny and make the person falling for them feel foolish. You didn't "fool" anyone, you just upset a lot of people, lied to them, got them riled up on YOUR behalf, and then, even when you realized that people went out of their way to help you and express concern for you, you just laughed in their -- no, I mean OUR -- faces and walked away. Fuck you, I'm done. There is currently a search on for people who bashed a gay man in the West Village a few nights ago. Video has been released and the police are looking for leads. I wonder how many people who see that video here on Facebook, where it is widely circulating, will think it's a stupid joke and skip right past it because you guys chose to act like assholes. Color me disgusted.

Assholes With No Sense of Humor Ruin Everything For Everyone Always

Reposted by request.  From the Improv Everywhere site:

For our latest mission, we attempted to stage a sequel to our Star Wars Subway Car mission, using characters from Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Jar Jar Binks entered a random train car and informed subway riders that he was scared that Darth Maul was chasing him. If things had gone as planned, people would have laughed and been surprised when Darth Maul showed up at the next stop.  

Unfortunately, three men on the train decided to ruin the fun for everyone by assaulting our actor playing Jar Jar. We were not going to even post this mission, but the actor who played Jar Jar wants to press charges, and we are searching for information on the three guys who attacked him. We hope that someone who sees this video will know them personally or recognize their faces.

Here is the best photo we have of them:


If you have any information, please get in touch with us, either via our contact form, or leaving a comment below. Thank you for your help. We’ll be back with a new mission soon. We’re not letting three idiots scare us away from continuing our mission to stage positive, funny stunts in public places.